Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus are provided that relate to the communications field. The method includes receiving, by a user plane network element from a control plane network element, information indicating a first policy for maintaining, when the user plane is disconnected from the control plane, continuity of a service of the user plane; and running, by the user plane network element, the service according to the first policy. In this way, the user plane network element may, when the user plane is disconnected from the control plane, maintain the continuity of the service of the user plane network element, to avoid service disconnection and meet an application scenario having a high requirement on service continuity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A communication method, comprising:
 receiving, by a user plane network element from a control plane network element, information indicating a first policy for maintaining, when communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, continuity of a service of the user plane; and   running, by the user plane network element, the service of the user plane according to the first policy   wherein the maintaining, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, continuity of the service of the user plane comprises:   establishing, by the user plane network element, a data channel connection relationship with a radio access network device according to an indication of a first network element,   wherein the first network element is deployed in a physical location area to which the user plane network element belongs, and   wherein the first network element is configured not to register with a network repository function network element in a core network.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first policy further comprises one or more of the following:
 a policy for continuing to run, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, the service of the user plane;   a policy for continuing to run, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, the service of the user plane until the service of the user plane ends;   a policy for continuing to run, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, the service of the user plane until a connection between the control plane and the user plane is recovered;   a policy for configuring, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal and a traffic quota of the user plane in a current period is used up, at least one of a first duration or a first threshold of traffic for the service of the user plane, so that the service of the user plane continues to be run based on at least one of the first duration or the first threshold of traffic; and/or   a policy for continuing to run, when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal and a use time of a traffic quota of the user plane in a current period is expired, the service of the user plane until the traffic quota of the user plane in the current period is used up.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the information indicating the first policy is an enumerated value. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the first policy is determined by the control plane network element based on traffic quota information of the service and policy control information of the service. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the running, by the user plane network element, the service of the user plane according to the first policy comprises:
 maintaining, by the user plane network element, a data channel connection relationship with a first radio access network device when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, wherein the first radio access network device is a radio access network device connected to the user plane network element when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first policy comprises a policy for disabling, when communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, a session control timer mechanism. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the receiving, by the user plane network element from a control plane network element, information indicating a first policy comprises receiving, by the user plane network element, a message from the control plane network element, and wherein the message does not carry a header field related to a session control timer mechanism, the method further comprising:
 sending, by the user plane network element, the message to a terminal device.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, by the user plane network element, traffic usage of the service run during disconnection between the user plane and the control plane; and   sending, by the user plane network element, the traffic usage to the control plane network element when the connection between the control plane and the user plane is recovered.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 triggering, when the service of the user plane network element is not run for more than a second duration, checking of resource usage of the user plane network element;   triggering, when a resource usage rate of the user plane network element exceeds a threshold, checking of resource usage of the user plane network element; or   triggering, when the connection between the control plane and the user plane is recovered, checking of resource usage of the user plane network element.   
     
     
         10 . A communication method, comprising:
 determining, by a radio access network device, that communication between a user plane and a control plane is abnormal by:   receiving, by the radio access network device, first indication information from a first network element deployed in a physical location area to which a user plane network element belongs, the first indication information indicating that communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, the first network element being configured not to register with a network repository function network element in a core network; and   maintaining, by the radio access network device, continuity of a service of the user plane when the communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the maintaining, by the radio access network device, the continuity of service of the user plane when communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal comprises:
 obtaining, by the radio access network device, context data of a terminal device from a further radio access network device that communicates with the terminal device when communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal, wherein the context data of the terminal device is used to recover a connection between the terminal device and the radio access network device;   notifying, by the radio access network device, the further radio access network device to maintain a connection to the user plane network element; and   forwarding, by the radio access network device, data of the terminal device to the user plane network element via the further radio access network device.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the first indication information is a cause value. 
     
     
         13 . A communication method, comprising:
 establishing, by a first network element, a communication connection to a radio access network device when communication between a user plane and a control plane is abnormal, wherein the first network element is deployed in a physical location area to which a user plane network element belongs; and   maintaining, by the first network element, continuity of a service of the user plane based on the communication connection to the radio access network device, wherein the first network element is configured not to register with a network repository function network element in a core network.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the maintaining, by the first network element, the continuity of the service of the user plane based on the communication connection to the radio access network device comprises:
 sending, by the first network element, first indication information to the radio access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates that communication between the user plane and the control plane is abnormal.   
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 13 , further comprising:
 instructing, by the first network element via a second network element, the user plane network element to establish a data channel connection relationship with the radio access network device,   wherein the second network element is deployed in the physical location area to which the user plane network element belongs, and   wherein a communication interface exists between the second network element and each of the first network element and the user plane network element.   
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein:
 the first network element and a network element of a same type in the core network belong to a same set,   a physical location area to which the user plane network element belongs is a first campus, and   a network element of a second campus with the same type of the first network element shares the same identifier with the first network element.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein:
 the first network element is an access management function network element, and   the identifier is a globally unique access management function identifier.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 17 , further comprising:
 Allocating different temporary international mobile subscriber identities of globally unique temporary identity are allocated to the network element of the first campus and the network element of the second campus.